Pops Mensah-Bonsu joins Hornets training camp

Former NBA Development League All-Star and NBA vagabond forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu will be in New Orleans' training camp on a make-good contract, a league source has told FanHouse.


Mensah-Bonsu, the 6-foot-9, 235-pound former George Washington talent who has logged a combined 54 games with four NBA teams in three seasons, played with CSKA Moscow last season after being cut by Toronto.

A member of Great Britain's national team, Menah-Bonsu averaged 19.3 points and 13.5 rebounds over eight games in August while helping his native country qualify for EuroBasket 2011.

Mensah-Bonsu signed with Caja Laboral of the Spanish ACB league this summer, but was unexpectedly available when the offer was reportedly withdrawn because of a lingering knee injury that some claim was widely known in hoops circles.

A key new member of the Hornets, however, saw what Mensah-Bonsu could do before and is hoping he does it again. New Orleans general manager Dell Demps was hired in July after spending five years in various roles with San Antonio, where one of his titles was general manager of the Spurs' NBA D-League team, the Austin Toros.

Mensah-Bonsu played eight games with the Toros in February of 2009, averaging 26.6 points, 13 rebounds and 2.5 blocks before he was signed to a 10-day contract with the Spurs. He will be fighting for time behind the Hornets' frontcourt of David West and Emeka Okafor.


source : nba.fanhouse.com

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Un Atletica signed Mike Crain

Veteran Point Guard Mike Crain has signed a 1 year deal with Un Atletica out of Uruguay.


The former Valdosta State guard will take his game overseas with a very solid resume after playing last year with the ABA’s S.E. Texas Mavericks and the CBA's East Kentucky Miners previously before that.

During the 2009-2010 season with the Mavericks, Crain averaged 11 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assist per game, which lead to him receiving the 2010 ABA Sixth Man of the Year and All Southwest Conference honors.

Crain, who is represented by Nate McCray of Dynasty Sports Management, also attended the 2010 Eurobasket Summer League this past summer where he received 2nd Team All Tournament accolades.

source : http://www.dsm-international.com


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Maroussi out of Euroleague Qualifying Rounds

The goods news are that they haven't hit bottom yet..


Maroussi BC are out of the Euroleague qualifiers according to superbasket.gr. This happened because the administration of Maroussi did not submit all the necessary documents to the ULEB and hence they cannot participate in the Qualifying rounds. Another team will take their place and it will not be a Greek team.

Another player left today, Zisis Sarikopoulos(2.13-C), who will be signing a 3-season agreement with Panionios instead. Everything is falling apart around Maroussi and noone seems to be able to stop it. The previous owner of the team Aris Vovos still abstains and the 300 odd fans of the team have no real political power to force any decisions in Greece. The current administration must be seriously pissed off because this time last year there wasn't anyone paid either but they knew they had something great. They haven't really done anything though to help themselves either. Bad timing to start an unpaid team in Greece? Quite so.

There is no telling whether Maroussi will be able to participate even in the Greek A1 league and the rest of the players refused practising as they haven't been paid.

Will there be anyone capable to stop the downfall? Doubtful..

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Rumors about Partizan and Dewarick Spencer

Another one to leave Maroussi.


Dewarick Spencer(1.93-SG/PG) is very close to Partizan Belgrade according to superbasket.gr. After coach Bartzokas quit from Maroussi, Spencer left Athens and the article says that he is now very close to signing a contract with Partizan Belgrade for the next season.

Spencer is not really bound by a contract because the situation in Maroussi is quite shady already and all the players were bound by pre-contractual agreements that have not much legal value and can be easily broken. Spencer seems to be the player that will replace Aleksandar Rasic that could continue his career in Maccabi Tel Aviv.

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Hapoel Jerusalem signed Michael Dunigan for 3 seasons

Hapoel Migdal Jerusalem invested in the future with the signing of Michael Dunigan for the next three seasons.


Dunigan (208, 21) arrives to Hapoel from the University of Oregon where he spent only two years before turning pro. In his sophomore season, he posted 9.0 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game. Dunigan, like recently-signed power forward Sam Clancy, arrived in Jerusalem and successfully passed the medical tests, but was not able to take part in a friendly game against Israeli League champion Hapoel Gilboa/Galil. He is set to play his first official game against Liege Basket on September 29.

source : eurocupbasketball.com

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Verginis leaving Panathinaikos for Aris

He had enough time polishing the bench.. time to play.


According to gazzetta.gr, Dimitris Verginis(1.91-PG/SG) is more than likely to move from Panathinaikos to Aris. The Greek combo guard didn't follow the rest of the team of Panathinaikos to Zlatibor for the preparation stage and stayed behind. The reason behind that was to break his contract with Panathinaikos. Panathinaikos would compensate Verginis with 120,000 euros to break his 300,000 euros contract and then he will sign with Aris for another 80,000 euros. The article says that there is an option for another season in the contract for 150,000 euros for Verginis.

Aris want desperately to return to the Euroleague and Verginis is desperately looking for some playing time so he doesn't retire way before his time. The deal could be announced tomorrow morning according to the article and if this goes through then it means that Aris are no longer pursuing the much more expensive Milos Vujanic.Verginis didn't get much playing time the last 2 seasons and he was obviously used as a practice aid. He wants to change all that and show what he's worth. Last season he only played 10 games in Greece for Panathinaikos and 2 games in the Euroleague.

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Kambala could play for Akademik next season

The controversial player could land in Bulgaria next season.


According to bulgarianbasket.com, the Latvian center Kaspars Kambala (2.06-C) could play for Lukoil Akademik next season. The GM of the club, Alex Vezenkov confirmed that the team is in talks with Kambala and that is likely he will sign for them. This could be a major transfer for Akademik that lost Pero Antic(2.11-PF/C) to Spartak St. Petersburg.

Kambala has played for the last 2 seasons in Russia for Krasnoyarsk following a 2 year ban from basketball after a positive doping test. During that time he tried his luck as a boxer but without much success. Last season he averaged 14.5 points and 6.1 rebounds in 11 games in the Russian Superleague.


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